I had a lot to do today, so I changed into regular clothes after work, then headed to Audubon Crossings Shopping Center. I hadn't had pizza at Tu Se Bella's in ages. Surprisingly, despite it being past quarter after 1, they weren't that busy. I enjoyed a slice of broccoli and shrimp and a slice of mushroom with a Diet Pepsi while the workers watched a Chinese martial arts film on the TV over the soda coolers.
Had just enough time to pick up a treat at Sonic a few doors down. They were quiet, too. I was the only one on the patio, and there weren't that many people parked, either. I hadn't had Sonic in a while, either. I got a mini Sonic Blast - basically, their version of a Blizzard, vanilla soft serve mixed with bits and pieces. I had a mini Reeces Peanut Butter Cup Sonic Blast. Oh, did that hit the spot. Cool, thick, with just enough bits. The mini version was just the right size to eat quickly and still have enough time to ride into Oaklyn and get to the School on time.
I came in just as the kids were finishing up their craft time. Apparently, superheroes are the theme this week. The kids were coloring in their own cardboard superhero masks, after which they or their teachers strung red yarn through holes and tied them to their heads. Stringing that yarn was harder than it looked! Some of the kids were still doing it while we cleaned up for their snack.
I watched over the kids doing art after we ate. We had a hard time getting paper, especially since the boys kept taping pages together to make signs for imaginary businesses. The girls in particular were fascinated by my illustrations for my own stories. I drew Eugenia dancing with the evil sorcerer Pruitt while Mr. Foley watched under the invisibility cloak from my upcoming The Four Dancing Princesses, an upset Bear Scott with Eagle Victor and Betty in my current Hilary and the Beasts, Betty about to throw a shoe at the Mouse King (Pruitt) before he can harm the Nutcracker (Scott) in the reworked WENN Nutcracker Suite, and Queen Betty trapped in the golden harp, explaining her predicament to C.J in C.J and the Beanstalk.
After we cleaned up, the kids briefly played Kickball. This time, it involved them sectioning off into two teams. One team kicked. The others ran. They were having a literal and figurative ball, even as a few of the girls who didn't play pointed out that the boys tended to kick too hard and play too rough. They didn't play for more than 15 minutes before we shooed them along to the smaller auditorium where the pre-schoolers were playing, and where everyone gathered before they went home.
Went straight into writing, taking the laundry downstairs, and watching Remember WENN when I got home. Mr. Eldridge is saying "Thanks a Lottery!" when it turns out he won that sweepstakes Scott mentioned back in "Happy Homecomings." Everyone has their own ideas of what he should do with the money...and one of those things is retirement. Pruitt, though in jail, isn't done causing trouble. He shunted them into another company, one that cuts the budget and forces a mandatory age for retirement. The others think Mr. Eldridge loses the ticket when Hilary burns her letters from Jeff, but Mr. Eldridge is a lot more sensible than anyone thinks...and he finds a way to assure that they'll never have to deal with jerks like Pruitt ever again.
Hilary is still fuming by the time of "You've Met Your Match." She usurps WENN's proto-Dating Game to use Victor and make Jeff jealous. What she didn't anticipate was Victor would end up in the arms of an utterly thrilled Maple, and she'd get Scott. Now Jeff is the one using Betty to make Hilary and Scott jealous...and it works all too well. Meanwhile, Victor's much happier to be dancing with vivacious Maple, Mr. Eldridge and Gertie always enjoy each other's company, and Eugenia and Mr. Foley are so happy with their date, they're late coming back!
Spent the rest of the evening working on Hilary and the Beasts. It's Halloween, and everyone is dressed in costume, playing pranks, eating Mrs. Fox's pumpkin pie, and preparing for the big bonfire that night...everyone that is, except Eagle (Victor). He's still working on those papers on the situation in Europe. He finally calls Bear (Scott) in an attempt to decode the papers, but poor Bear's mind is still too blocked to make heads or tails of it. He runs out growling about the darkness in his head and how much it hurts when he tries to decode, with the others following. Betty finally takes him to the bonfire to calm him down. Hilary and Troll (Jeff) follow them. Maple says she and Eagle will be flying over the bonfire for a special Halloween flight.
Put on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Plus after WENN ended. The gang goes on "Minnie's Backpack Adventure" to test Minnie's new big backpacks. They're heading to Goofy Rock, but they have a lot of obstacles to dodge along the way, including the return of Goofy's friend Coconut the Monkey and a big rainstorm.
Switched to Match Game '76 during dinner and as I brought up the laundry. Ed Asner and adorable Trish Stewart joined in for this week. Trish was such a sweetheart, one of the best of the soap opera stars who made occasionally appearances on the show. Meanwhile, Brett's less thrilled when she's the answer to a question about whose brain one would take for a monster.
Finished the night after a shower with game shows made for The Family Channel in the 90's. Now known as Freeform, the Family Channel started as just that - a channel specializing in programming the whole family could enjoy. To tell the truth, if memory serves me correctly, it became a re-run farm pretty early-on. They picked up game show re-runs when USA started to phase them out...but unlike USA, they made their own shows along with re-runs of older ones.
They were especially known for relatively lavish children's stunt shows. Masters of the Maze is one of the most creative of the Double Dare/Legends of the Hidden Temple imitations of the 90's. Kids have to answer questions before one enters the trap-strewn mazes wearing protective gear and a helmet, and the other guides them to the end. Interesting idea, but watching a kid stumble around a weird maze in bad Robocop-style headgear isn't as exciting as it sounds. Mario Lopez hosts this later episode.
Maximum Drive is a bit better executed. Here, kids race around dirt tracks on vehicles made to handle them like ATVs and motor bikes. Team with the most points wins in the end. The kids were having an absolute blast with this play on the extreme sports trend of the 90's. I've never seen anything like it.
The Family Challenge also involved stunts. Basically, this was hour-long Family Double Dare without the double-daring or obstacle course. Two families competed in a variety of stunts to see who won the trophy in the end. Some of the stunts were as simple as a family member trying to identify another member held over a barrier or pulling the tablecloth out from under expensive tableware. Ray Combs was the host in this early episode. He was replaced by Michael Berger during the show's second run.
They had game shows for adults, too. Shop 'Til You Drop was salvaged from Lifetime when they gave up on game shows. Two teams play mini-games based on parts of a shopping mall to test their shopping and pop culture savvy. Winners get to grab boxes from the various "stores" in the mall in the hope of coming up with good prizes. Shopping Spree is somewhat similar, only in this case, the mall is replaced with a downtown theme, and the bonus round has the contestants throwing "gifts" for a celebrity's birthday in a box and shoving them at a cheap artwork of the celebrity in question.
Family Channel tried to join the late 20th century with three experimental "interactive games" based on popular board games in 1994. Of the three, only Trivial Pursuit lasted more than a few months, and that just made a year. By the time of this later episode, the "interactive" part of the show, with contestants being eliminated and people calling in to answer trivia questions, had been dialed down to two call-in questions per show. Watching people guess questions from various subjects is more interesting than it sounds, and I actually wish they'd gone further with this one (sans the intrusive interactive components).
Explore the early years of the Family Channel and check out some of their best original game shows in this trip down memory lane!
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